Posted on 11/09/2015 2:04:04 AM PST by Keyvan Salami
If the international community is serious on the drive it made to bring an end to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it should now target the ayatollahs’ atrocious human rights dossier with a much stronger resolve. This is the Achilles Heel Iran is extremely sensitive about and has made it a red line in any and all international talks. International community should urge Iran’s rulers to allow Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, to enter the country. Ever since Dr. Shaheed has been mandated by the world body to report on Iran’s concerning human rights situation on the ground, Tehran has deprived this former Maldives foreign minister from stepping foot on its soil, knowing this will mark a very significant withdrawal and the start of the end of its deceptive policy in this regard. As the ayatollahs have under much pressure from inside the country and abroad been forced to give into the nuclear deal with the P5+1 back in July, and the UN is in the country conducting inspections on its enrichment facilities, uninstalling their adored centrifuges and preparing to cement the heart of the Arak plutonium reactor, expectations are raising for Tehran to deliver the same extent of transparency on its human rights dossier. International organizations have for decades been expressing their abhorrence over the medieval style of human rights violations seen in Iran and reports leaked to the outside world by dissidents and opposition groups. One major issue is Iranian president Hassan Rouhani claiming of moderation while executing more than 2,000 individuals during his tenure since summer 2013. Moreover, the ayatollahs have constantly legitimized their atrocious measures under different pretexts and even cloaking their measures under the name of Islam. UN Member States and Tehran should be urged to correct the human rights situation on the ground with a similar level of commitment seen so far in the nuclear deal. Although serious measures are needed to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, its regional ambitions and appalling human rights conditions, this would still mark a good start. Rest assured that Iran will kick and scream before ever allowing anyone in the likes of Dr. Shaheed into the country. Dr. Shaheed has recently issued his 9th report on the human rights situation in Iran, and he recently delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly on October 28th in this regard. Despite the fact that he welcomed the nuclear pact, Dr. Shaheed quickly went on to raise serious concerns over the alarming rate of skyrocketing executions, activists being persecuted, journalists and minorities harassed, and the rampant discrimination of women in all social and economic fields. Dr. Shaheed’s report goes on to outline how electoral laws in Iran, to be tested in the country’s so-called general elections next year, actually violate international standards of free & fair elections. If Iran seeks to actually rejoin the international community after the nuclear deal, the Ayatollahs must be forced to allow a visit by Dr. Shaheed. Like it or not, Iran must adhere to the fact that Dr. Shaheed is the man appointed by the international community and missioned to probe the status of human rights in this country. The time has come for Iran to recognize his mandate and provide him access into the country. Keyvan Salami Tweets at @SalamiKeyvan
1. Barack Hussein Obama has no interest at all in human rights, except as a concept used to attack groups he personally despises. Thus, he will certainly use it against Israel and against any other country with western values, but he would never use it against Iran.
2. Iran’s leaders have no interest in human rights and would not care if someone called them brutal thugs who are oppressing women, homosexuals, Christians, Jews, and other groups that they take great pride in oppressing.
3. In any case, Obama has worked hard for more than six years to prove that he is the biggest sissy in history. If he tried to pressure Iran, they would laugh. Then they would negotiate an agreement that gave them even more from us in return for nothing at all.
Human Rights is a Marxist phrase peppered throughout our language to develop disarming discourse so you can invade America.
The time to have done something about Iran with all its faults would have been in 2009, early in Obama’s reign.
Election result protests by tens of thousands - an uprising that could have been assisted in various ways to destabilize and dethrone that regime. Obama chose to demur, to put it mildly.
It is enlightening now with benefit of hindsight to see that Obama never did “demur” like that again. Egypt, Libya, Syria, etc. - all areas where his foreign policy and interference did/does have an impact.
To be talking anything about Iran and Human Rights now in the wake of that Obama Surrender Pact is just plain silly, frankly.
The cause of Human Rights was effectively used by successive US administrations against the Soviet Union.
Including Ronald Reagan.
see AGENDA
SNIP
Can it really be said that Ronald Reagan was actually responsible for an event as great as the collapse of the Soviet Union?
Sharansky: Yes.
One man in one office?
Sharansky: Yes. Absolutely. But not one man alone. If I would be permitted to widen the credit a little more, I would say the collapse of the Soviet Union is attributable to three men. Andrei Sakharov, Scoop Jackson, and Ronald Reagan. These were the people who brought moral clarity to the conflict and started the chain of events which led to the end of Soviet communism. Sakharov to the Russian people, Senator Jackson to the American government, and Ronald Reagan on behalf of the American people to the world and thus back to the Soviet Union. They created the policy of linkage: That international relations and human rights must be linked. That how a government treats its own people cannot be separated from how that government could be expected to treat other countries. That how governments honor commitments they make at home will show the world how they will honor their commitments abroad.
It was AGENDA that influenced my first comment about Marxism
ping
Lecture #9, Hillsdale ... “The Administrative State Today”
I agree with you on the fact that West thinks more about its own interests rather than Human Rights, but this put the burden on the individuals like you and me and humanitarian communities to be the voice of those voiceless people in countries like Iran.moreover, with the new birth of the fundamentalism in the Middle East, the governments must also pay attention to the Human Rights issues, as I remarked in my article, in their interactions with these oppressive rulers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.